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Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Parashat Ekev - In God We Trust

Echoes of Eden

Rabbi Ari
Kahn

Parashat Ekev

In God We Trust

Everyone has a price, or so we are told. Though we would
love to believe that people of integrity do exist, people who cannot be bought,
one of the unintended byproducts of capitalism is the subliminal message that everything
is subject to negotiation. But is this unfortunate message an unavoidable
conclusion of our way of life? Has this
cynicism infiltrated our religious life as well? Surely, life within a Jewish
community engenders certain real and unavoidable monetary needs: Without
resources for building and maintaining Jewish institutions such as schools,
synagogues, mikvahs, etc., not to mention the funds necessary to support
less-fortunate members of the community, Jewish life as we know it would come
to a grinding halt. Yet do these needs become no more than a means for us to
cleanse our guilty consciences? Has the Jewish ethic of charity enabled us to
simply write a check and consider ourselves fully compliant with Jewish ethics
as a whole? Can a donation to the “building fund” cleanse a soul that is
otherwise sorely lacking Jewish spiritual and moral vitality? Is our morality -
or lack of such - the victim of our cynical use of a checkbook or credit card?

An even more disturbing question is, does God operate by
these same rules? Can God be bought? Can He be swayed or manipulated by
monetary contributions to the right causes? A verse in this week’s Parasha
addresses these questions head-on:

God your Lord is the ultimate
Supreme Being and the highest possible Authority. He is the great, mighty and
awesome God, who does not give special consideration or take bribes. (Devarim
10:17)

The human mind has a hard time understanding God; the best
we can do is extrapolate from human experience. For this reason, it is difficult
for us to imagine a God with no needs. One commentary (Bchor Shor) explained
this abstract concept in terms much more readily grasped: God “owns” all of
existence; therefore, the thought that we can give God something is an
absurdity. Similarly, Rashi explains that we cannot give God a monetary bribe:
God does not “have a price.” True belief in an infinite God necessarily leads
to this conclusion: What can a finite, limited human being possibly give to a
God that is beyond space, time and matter? What currency could possibly be used
to “pay off” such a deity? Unfortunately, the human mind has trouble processing
this paradox; the motto “In God we trust” is meaningful to many people only
when it appears on legal tender.

Given the absurdity of “bribing” God, a number of the
commentaries (Rambam, Ramban, Seforno) suggest that the bribe mentioned in the
verse above refers to a different sort of currency: mitzvot. We may
tempted to believe that performing a good deed can cause God to “forget,” or at
least to look the other way, when we sin. The reasoning seems to be that
because God so values those who follow His ways, a well-timed mitzvah can erase
a slew of bad deeds.

To this thinking, the Torah responds: God does not take
bribes. The spiritual universe works in a more straightforward manner: We are
rewarded for our good deeds, and punished for misdeeds. We cannot “make an
arrangement” with God. On the other hand, if we have strayed, teshuva is
always possible; regret for past misdeeds, coupled with a commitment to change,
is a mitzvah in and of itself. Despite the fact that the Torah’s warning seems
stern and somewhat off-putting - “He is a mighty and awesome God who does not
give special consideration or take bribes” - the very next verse tempers this foreboding
and ominous statement with a clear counter-statement:

He brings justice to the orphan and
widow, and loves the foreigner, granting him food and clothing. You must also
show love toward the foreigner, since you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.
Remain in awe of God, serve Him, cling to Him, and swear by His name. (Devarim
10:18-20)

We are encouraged to emulate God, to partner with God - not
because this behavior will erase any negative things we have done or will do,
but because moral behavior is kind, and just, and good. God cannot be bribed,
but He is happy to take on “junior associates and partners” here on earth,
people who are willing to behave in a god-like manner and fill the world with
godliness. The more we adopt God’s
behaviors, the more we are kind, giving, supportive of others, the more
godliness will come into the world – and that is surely no trivial goal.

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About Me

Born in Brooklyn NY, moved to Israel in 1984.
I teach and write about Torah topics. Author of "Explorations" on the weekly Parsha and "Emanations" on holidays - both published by Targum/Feldheim
http://rabbiarikahn.com
ebook available
http://www.peopleoftheebooks.com/Book/Explorations.aspx?uid=79
Echoes of Eden - http://www.peopleoftheebooks.com/Book/Echoes+of+Eden.aspx?uid=189
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